B2B Sales Whitepaper Examples
Browse examples of B2B whitepapers used to educate buyers and support complex sales.
What is a whitepaper?
A whitepaper is a detailed, solution-oriented piece of long-form content designed to explore a specific topic, often one that’s complex or misunderstood. It’s especially common in B2B marketing, where buyers want more substance before making a decision.
Whitepapers aren’t about hype. They’re about helping potential customers understand their challenges, evaluate their options, and walk away with a clear next step. Done right, a whitepaper can shape how someone sees a problem—and make your solution the obvious choice.
You’ll see whitepapers most often in technical or regulated industries like healthcare, cybersecurity, and enterprise SaaS. In these spaces, buyers expect deeper insights and want to see your methodology, supporting data, and subject matter expertise laid out in a digestible way.
Why do whitepapers matter in B2B marketing?
In B2B marketing, whitepapers are foundational. They’re flexible assets that can support nearly every part of your marketing strategy—from lead generation and SEO to sales enablement and customer onboarding.
Because whitepapers are in-depth, they appeal to decision-makers who need to understand the full context of a problem. They’re also perfect for reaching audiences doing self-serve research: someone in a startup leadership role, a nonprofit evaluating a CRM, or an IT leader scanning vendor options. These folks need more than a sales deck—they want substance.
Whitepapers can also be repurposed. A single asset can fuel blog posts, social graphics, infographics, case studies, or a webinar. You can even use the research to pitch a podcast interview or executive byline. And when you pair your whitepaper with Dock, you can embed it into a custom workspace alongside a proposal, landing page, and other assets that support the customer journey.
What is a marketing whitepaper?
A marketing whitepaper is designed to attract and convert leads. It's usually built around one major pain point, backed by industry data, and capped off with a compelling call to action. While it may touch on your product, it’s rarely a hard sell.
Think of a marketing whitepaper as a bridge between awareness and evaluation. It gives your target audience something valuable, and in return, you earn their time, attention, and possibly even their contact information through gated content.
Smart content marketers also optimize marketing whitepapers for SEO, formatting them with a table of contents, well-labeled headers, and phrases aligned with what their audience is actually searching for. This way, the content drives value both in the moment and long-term via organic traffic.
Types of whitepapers
Not all whitepapers are created equal. Each serves a different purpose depending on where the buyer is in the funnel and who you're talking to:
- Problem-solution whitepapers: These whitepapers dive deep into a common issue facing your target audience, then walk through how your product or approach solves it. They’re great for demand gen, especially when promoted on LinkedIn or through email marketing collateral.
- Technical whitepapers: These are often written for engineers, developers, or IT leaders. They focus less on business outcomes and more on how your product works—think architecture diagrams, methodologies, security protocols, etc.
- Thought leadership whitepapers: Built to establish your brand as a thought leader, these pieces don’t necessarily talk about your product at all. Instead, they share a point of view on where the industry is heading—ideal for building trust early in the buyer journey.
- Comparison whitepapers: These line up your product next to alternatives, highlighting differentiators. Back up your claims with real-world proof like success stories, testimonials, or case studies.
- Lead-generating whitepapers: These are the downloadable assets often featured on landing pages or promoted via social media. The focus is on volume—using whitepaper templates to create scalable, SEO-optimized content that brings in new names.
What makes a great whitepaper?
A great whitepaper delivers value fast and makes it easy for the reader to find what they need. Here’s what separates the good from the great:
- A sharp, focused executive summary that outlines what the whitepaper will deliver
- A clean table of contents that improves readability
- Clear structure using subheadings, bullets, and visuals
- Supportive content like graphs, infographics, and diagrams
- Real data from case studies, internal benchmarks, or third-party market research
- Bolded key takeaways throughout the document
- A clear CTA or call to action so the reader knows what to do next
Whitepaper format & design tips
Don’t underestimate the impact of whitepaper design. Even great content can get ignored if it looks dense or outdated. Some design tips:
- Use professional, accessible fonts—and keep them consistent
- Use a numbered list or bullet points to make long sections easier to scan
- Include eye-catching visuals that support the content (not just stock photos)
- Maintain white space so the content breathes
- Use Dock to embed whitepapers into interactive workspaces that look and feel polished
Your whitepaper format should reflect your brand while prioritizing clarity. The goal is to guide the reader’s attention without overwhelming them.
When should you use a whitepaper?
Whitepapers work best when you’re trying to do one of the following:
- Educate a target audience that’s new to a concept or category
- Support stakeholders who need deeper material to justify spend
- Differentiate in a crowded space using data, case studies, and evidence
- Reframe a specific topic with your company’s POV
- Follow up after a webinar or discovery call with something in-depth
If your buyer has questions like “How does this actually work?” or “Why is this worth the cost?”—a whitepaper is probably the right tool.
How to share whitepapers internally
To get full value out of your whitepapers, your team has to know they exist—and when to use them. Some internal best practices:
- Use Dock to house all your whitepapers in a central, searchable content hub
- Tag by persona, funnel stage, or product line so reps can find what they need fast
- Include whitepapers in onboarding flows and enablement guides
- Share standout examples of whitepapers in team Slack or during deal reviews
- Create whitepaper templates to streamline creation and keep quality high
How to share whitepapers with clients
Buyers aren’t really looking for a 20-page PDF in their inbox. Make the delivery experience count:
- Send your whitepaper as part of a Dock workspace that also includes a case study, proposal, and onboarding plan
- Mention a specific section or key takeaway during a call to drive engagement
- Tease interesting stats or visuals from the whitepaper in your next social media post
- Use them as a soft CTA in outreach: “Thought you’d find this helpful…”
When shared in context, whitepapers feel like helpful tools—not homework.
How to measure whitepaper success
Here’s how to know whether your whitepaper is actually working:
- Engagement metrics: Use Dock to track opens, time spent, and drop-off points
- Lead generation: If it’s gated, what’s the conversion rate? Are those leads qualified?
- Sales feedback: Are reps using it? Does it help answer questions or move deals forward?
- Repurpose opportunities: Can you extract infographics, blog posts, or podcast talking points?
- SEO: Is the whitepaper page indexed and ranking for relevant keywords on search engines?
Once you have that insight, you can fine-tune your next whitepaper—whether that’s a visual redesign, a more focused topic, or a clearer CTA.
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